Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Words. Power. Are the two connected?

Words. Power. Are the two connected? Are they one in the same? It's a good question. There is much dispute about this, and wars have been waged, and friendships destroyed, over the sounds that come from another.

Those sounds come in both written and spoken form, as those who read hear the words spoken that were written to them. What is it about words that seem to have such power. Do they really have power to do what people believe? If people believe it, then yes.

However, if a moment was taken to consider that words truly exist in a void, it might be a way to avert further difficulty. Words are nothing more than symbols when they stand alone. It is each individual person's hurts, pains, anguish, and good stuff too, that will affect how the words are received.

If someone who didn't speak the language was to hear a word, it would mean nothing. It would arrive flat. It would be as if something non-sensical was spoken. Perhaps language in and of itself is non-sensical, and the only sense it makes is what you bring to it.

There would never be a denial of the great emotions that are stirred withina person when there is a significant loss. And human beings have had some tremendous losses.

The thing that might be disputed is what the people involved brought to the situation and what those involved took away from it.

When human beings are unconscious of what their experience is (and that happens quite frequently) what will happen is more of a default experience, or one guided by others. The guidance of others can come in the form of words, but it is what is behind them that has the power to stir someone to action. The discourse is the most important aspect to any dilemma, and has people move forward and determine what their experience will be, but they will find more potential conflict.

It is seemingly more safe to stay in the unconscious realm because it is the comfort zone. It is the zone in which one is compelled to stay comfortable, not make waves, to be what they've already been.

The minute that the conscious is stirred up, and one becomes aware with what is happening behind the scenes there is an important thing that happens - a recognition of the fact that it is difficult now not to do something different.

It practically compels, and is extremely uncomfortable for those who find themselves there. The discomfort would discourage people from going that route and they would just as easily use words at this point to hide from what their conscious self seems to be encouraging.

Words are only a method of communicating what is stirred up inside. When someone says something that you are uncertain about, or disagree with, consider that in the background there is something inside of them that has spurred them on...likely it is an insecurity or a feeling of a lack of control, or any of a myriad of other human possibilities that can only be understood by the person who has expressed themselves in the way that they did.

If you can view the words and resulting conversations from an observational place,and refuse to jump in automatically with your own emotions - in other words, refuse to react, you may find a whole different way to interact with those in your life and with those around you, and with your neighbors and your governments.

Reactionary activity will never be as powerful as the activity that comes from an action. Even in the cases where there is a good reaction, the best place to communicate from is a place of clear understanding and when you clearly understand where you come from, you can clearly communicate what is truly occurring for you at the moment.

Since there is a constant coding, decoding process going on, your words will always have the possibility of being encoded in a way that you never intended - and that is a risk you take when expressing yourself.

To remember that people are in a potentially reactionary mode at the moment, is to give you the ability to dance with the moment. You, in a calm, clear state will better be able to relate what you need to than to get caught up in the midst of emotion.

You are meant to express yourself so that others may get clear about themselves, and sometimes this will necessitate disagreements. How you handle yourself, and the responsibility you take for who you are, will always be the thing to consider first and foremost before pointing in another's direction.

2 comments:

Words are powerful when used with people who all agree on what the meaning of the word is. You are right, when talking to someone who doesn't speak and doesn't understand, the words are now meaningless..what are you going to do now to get your thoughts across? ...learning to open up to our body language would be a great thing. Working with animals I have to vibrate a certain way to gain thier trust. There is no language with animals , it is all about tone and how you hold your body and the emotions you hold. I think we should all try listening to our senses a little more..truely we do know how to do it...and stop getting hung up on words and giving simple letters so much power.